Plants are particularly vulnerable to physical disturbance in low productivity areas, due to the high energetic cost of replacing lost tissue. In the eastern United States, serpentine savannahs are fragmented ecosystems with high concentrations of rare endemic plant species, low concentrations of soil nutrients, and severe deer overpopulation. This study assessed the recovery of flowering plants in a serpentine savannah when deer were excluded. Plant count, flower count, vegetative area, and plant height of 10 serpentine plant species were compared inside and outside of deer exclusion structures throughout an entire growing season. Throughout the growing season and across the plant community, deer exclusion consistently increased values for all plant response traits measured. Species that responded most strongly to deer exclusion included Arabis lyrata (Brassicaceae, the wide ranging lyre-leaf rockcress) and the serpentine near-endemic Symphyotrichum depauperatum (a serpentine aster kn